


Hard Light

by akire_yta



Category: Dresden Files (bookverse)
Genre: Apocalypse, Gen, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-06
Updated: 2013-10-06
Packaged: 2017-12-28 13:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/992671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akire_yta/pseuds/akire_yta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The morning after the world ends changes every morning after that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hard Light

**Author's Note:**

> Written for deifire for the apocalyptathon  
> Spoilers: Vaguely set just after Proven Guilty, but playing fast and loose with canon, tbh
> 
> Beta: dkphoenix gave it the once over, with my eternal thanks. All remaining errors are my own.

Title: Hard Light  
Author: [](http://akire-yta.livejournal.com/profile)[**akire_yta**](http://akire-yta.livejournal.com/)  
Recipient: [](http://deifire.livejournal.com/profile)[**deifire**](http://deifire.livejournal.com/)  
Fandom: Dresden Files (bookverse)  
Rating: PG  
Request: In what came as a complete shock to almost everyone Harry knows, the apocalypse turned out to have no supernatural cause whatever. But how does what's left of Chicago survive in the aftermath?  
Spoilers: Vaguely set just after Proven Guilty, but playing fast and loose with canon, tbh  
Warnings: just general doom and gloom  
Summary: The morning after the world ends changes every morning after that.  
Beta: [](http://dkphoenix.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://dkphoenix.livejournal.com/)**dkphoenix** gave it the once over, with my eternal thanks. All remaining errors are my own.  
Notes: The story in my head probably needs a whole novel to be told. Maybe next time :)

My alarm clock still jarred me awake the morning after the world ended.

That day started like any other – cold shower (one day I would find a water heater that would work around me), a healthy breakfast of Lucky Charms with the last of the milk in my icebox. I made a mental note to get more as I slurped out the dregs from the bowl. Leaving the dirty dishes in the sink, I dropped the hatch to my workroom and descended the stairs, not bothering with a candle until I hit the floor.

Bob’s eyes were two pinpricks of light in the gloom. “Harry,” he said as I patted the shelf for a candle. “Call Murphy. Now.”

“Why,” I asked as my fingertips touched tallow. More candles went onto the mental shopping list. “So you can hit on her again?” Ever since I had introduced Murphy to the skull, it had been a never-ending series of really bad pick up lines.

“No,” he whispered. Something in his voice made me turn around, unlit candle in hand. “Something’s happened, Harry. Something bad.”

“What?” I sighed, not ready for Bob’s games before coffee. I lit the candle almost as an afterthought with a whispered word of power.

Little Chicago was gone. In its place in the centre of my work room were melted piles of metal and charred ash from the wooden table. Still sizzling droplets of plastic from the table mat were dripping onto the stone floor. “Oh,” I said at last, struggling to think. “Something bad.”

Upstairs, someone started hammering on my door.

Tearing myself away from the ruins of Little Chicago, I climbed up the steps, carrying the candle with the ease of years of practice. “Who is it?” I yelled, already reaching for my staff.

“It’s Murphy!” a familiar voice yelled.

“And Butters,” a second voice added.

The staff dropped back into the umbrella rack and I hurried to open the door. Murph had a token that would let her pass, but she respected my wards and never used it unless she had to. Like if she was dragging my beaten up butt home.

There were good reasons why Murphy had the keys to my pad. Flicking off the wards, I fumbled open the locks. Something had melted Little Chicago without giving me so much as a bad dream, and Murphy was now beating down my door before 9am.

Call me kooky, but something told me the two were related.

Murphy was standing on my threshold, hands on her hips. Even given the fact that she barely came up to my chest, she was radiating barely contained fury and frustration that were slowly being melted into the singleminded determination that made her the best cop on the force. Even if her association with the only wizard in the phonebook had lost her her rank and seniority.

That said, the head to toe black biker’s leathers helped the hardass image immensely.

“Come on in,” I said, glancing over her head to see what was behind her, but there was nothing out there but the quiet of an early morning and Butters, looking incredibly anxious.

I ushered them both inside. Butters made a beeline for the banked fire in the grate, warming his hands over the coals as if it were mid-winter outside, and not a mild fall morning.

Murphy stalked the perimeter of my living room. It didn’t take her long. I waited for her to finish her circuit. “So,” I said brightly as she came to a halt in front of me. “What monster from our collective nightmares has come to slaughter us in our beds this time?”

Murphy cocked her head to one side. “What makes you think it was a monster?”

I thought of the ruins of Little Chicago under my feet. “Call it a hunch.”

Butters had stood up from his crouch over the fireplace, and was looking around my place like he was seeing it for the first time. “Do you have any electricity here at all, Harry?”

I shook my head, getting more confused by the second. “Wizards and electricity is a bad, bad mix, Butters. You know that.” I switched my attention back to Murphy. “What’s going on?”

“Where were you at about ten past eight last night?” her voice was sharp.

Murphy wasn’t one to play pointless games. I played along, trusting her to get to the point. “Tucked up in my bed early. I was worn out from all my wizardly games.”

“Alone?” She asked sharply.

I laughed without humour. “Well, a gentleman never brags, but me and Miss Marple have this thing going. It’s pretty casual. I pick her up at the markets, book sale, wherever and bring her home for a night under the covers with me.”

Murphy didn’t so much as crack a smile. “Well, I was watching TV last night, Dresden. Along with what I’m going to say is the majority of the citizens of the country.”

“TV rots your brain, Murph,” I told her. “What’s this got to do with the latest token villain?”

It was Butters who answered. “Ten past eight last night, the power cut out.”

I was starting to tire of being the only one without a clue. “If you came here hoping I know how last nights episode of Dallas ended, you’ve picked the wrong guy.”

Murphy rolled her eyes. “Dallas ended decades ago, Dresden. And the power didn’t cut out for us. It cut out for everyone.”

I frowned. “What, everyone in Chicago?”

Butters’ face was pale. “Everyone in the State, from what we can tell. Definitely everyone in the city.”

I shrugged. “Didn’t this happen before? Someone throws the wrong switch in a power station somewhere, the next thing we know everyone joins me off the grid?”

Murphy’s face was grim. “Between City Hall and the campus, they’re trying to decide between solar flare and terrorist EMP.”

“EMP?”

“Electro-magnetic pulse,” Butters said, pushing his glasses back up his nose. “Anything electronic that was running when it went off – zap!” He flicked his fingers out. “So much melted slag.”

I thought again of Little Chicago in my basement. “So at ten past eight last night…”

Butters’ eyes were wide behind the lens of his glasses. “Everything based on electronics that was live in the city died. Sometimes explosively.”

Murphy nodded. “There are fires all over the city. The hospitals are lucky if their generators are working. All the clinics are closed, and the Chief has a bunch of traffic cops downtown, moving their stocks to central locations. There are no traffic lights, but,” she shrugged philosophically. “There are nearly no cars on the road, so that evened out.”

I rubbed my face with my hands, trying to grasp everything they were telling me. “Wait, hold on. I know most homes are lit up like christmas trees, but surely not everything was running.”

Butters had perched himself on the edge of my favourite easy chair. “Standby mode.” He made an exasperated noise at my look of incomprehension. “Even if it’s turned off, most electronics these days still carry a current. They’re not completely turned off,” he explained patiently. “So even if your tv was off – which mine was, by the way – if it’s new enough, it still blew up.”

I latched onto what I felt was the key issue. “Not from the spooky side, then?”

Murphy stood up and walked over to me. “No,” she said simply. “But come nightfall, how many ghosts, ghouls and vampires do you think will be staying in with a warm cup of cocoa?”

I thought of Chicago, dark and quiet. I thought of all the streetlights not turning on, electronic locks not sealing, cars not on the street and people not out on the town. Then I thought of the vampires, and shuddered.

The war with the vampires had been raging on for so long that normal, mundane humans had started to more frequently become what they euphemistically call ‘collateral damage.’

The vampires probably called them provisions, but whatever.

I’d once heard someone say that civilization was only three meals from anarchy. If the vampires, or anything else for that matter, decided to take advantage, it would only be one meal. And we’d be what’s for dinner.

Humans. The other white meat.

I nodded. The destruction of Little Chicago was starting to make sense. Little Chicago had pieces of the city – gravel from the paths, barks from the trees. It _was_ the city, in miniature. If every person, every thing in the city was hit simultaneously, the backlash would be enough to trigger the spells I had woven into Little Chicago all at once, setting them off in a cascade reaction.

As above, so below. When Chicago went boom, its little analogue went up in smoke too. And no magic buzzing around to rouse sleeping wizards. But even if the cause wasn’t magical, they’d be work for me soon enough.

“We can’t protect the whole city,” I told her flatly. As I’d gotten older, the one thing I had finally learned to respect were my limits. Most of the time, anyway.

Murphy nodded. “Yeah. But I’ve known you a while, Dresden.” She smiled, wicked and sharp. “I was thinking about these.” She reached out and lifted my wrist. My shield bracelet chimed as it brushed against her fingertips. “I remember you inscribing these over doors so that nothing nasty could get in.”

“I brought my notebook and some sharpies.” Butters had his determined face on. “And tape. A lots of tape.”

Murphy let my hand drop. “Hospitals, nursing homes, shelters. Anywhere there’s a large concentration of people. I figure they’d be the most attractive targets for anyone looking for an easy meal.”

“And homes have thresholds,” I continued, picking up her thread with the ease of habit. “So people who stay in should be okay. And I don’t think people will be going out after dark tonight.” Hooray for primal instincts. Once upon a time, people knew to fear the dark.

“And we patrol tonight as well,” Murphy finished with a stubborn little nod. “People I can trust doing the night shift at key locations, whoever else you know and can trust and who isn’t afraid of the big, bad wolf, with us.”

I beamed at her. “I’m proud of you, young padawan.”

She rolled her eyes. “I was trying for more of a Buffy vibe.” She slapped her hands together. “One other reason we’re here. That rust bucket you call a ride.”

This time, I managed to get ahead of her. “No electronics whatsoever.” I laughed. “Man, hippies and students will be the only people with wheels in this town. Think we can get cheap gas?”

Murph was tugging on her riding gloves. “Don’t you know,” she snorted. “Cheap gas is an urban legend.” Murphy’s bike was a restored Harley, a real beauty, and one that I was willing to bet had no explodable circuitry either.

Butters put up his hand. “Can I ride with Harry this time, please?” he asked weakly.

I laughed. “Sure. Just let me get my gear.” From his spot in the corner, Mouse tilted his shaggy head in question. “Yeah, you’re coming too,” I told him as I picked up his leash and tossed it to Butters. A minute later, and I had my equipment. What can I say, I’m the boyscout of wizardry. “And speaking of padawans, we’re going to need to make a pitstop.”

Murphy stood up from where she had knelt to accept Mouse’s slobbery kisses. “You sure she’s up to it.”

I opened the door. “One way to find out.”

Mouse tugged Butters up the steps and out into the yard. “Take him onto the grass,” I yelled after him.

I glanced around my living room, checking to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. “Uh, Harry,” Butters called down the stairs. “There’s someone here to see you.”

I was up the steps in the blink of an eye, Murphy covering my six. We both relaxed a little as Thomas waved languidly from where he was sunning himself on the bonnet of the Blue Beetle. “Harry. And the delightful Sergeant Murphy. Always a pleasure.” He slithered off the bonnet into a courtly bow.

Thomas was a white court vampire, he could melt the panties off a nun at fifty paces, but Murphy had gone toe to toe with the real heavy hitters and walked away. “Thomas,” she shot back as she headed for her bike. “What, no wash, rinse and blowdry to do today?”

He shrugged the jab off. “No power, no pretty,” he said with a philosophical little shrug. “So I’m all yours today.” He held his arms wide.

I leaned on my staff. “Why do you think we’d need you today?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Thomas shrugged. “No power, anarchy looming, there’s already been a little looting.” He grinned, showing perfect white teeth. “Come on, Harry. Whenever you and Murph get together, there is always excitement, fireworks, and a really good time had by all.” The grin stepped up a notch. “Well, for the survivors, anyway.”

I studied him. “Up front, with me. Butters, you and Mouse in the back.” I nodded at Murph. “Know the way?”

She nodded. “I’ll be right behind you.” Her eyes told me she wasn’t just referring to the drive.

I walked over to my Beetle, hoisted open the trunk and dumped my gear inside. “Let’s roll.”

~//~

The Carpenter home looked like it was ordered from the American Dream Catalogue, right down to the white picket fence.

Murphy shrugged off her helmet as I held the gate open for her. She made a face, but led the way up the path and lifted her fist to knock.

The door was wrenched open by my apprentice. Molly Carpenter was looking more and more like her mother everyday, discounting the tattoos peeking out over through the neck of her shirt, and all the piercings. “Harry,” she said breathlessly. “Sergeant Murphy,” she added more respectfully.

Murphy smirked at the careful honorifics as Charity Carpenter came up behind her daughter. “Mister Dresden,” she said with a careful nod. “Karrin,” she said more warmly.

Going into the darkest Winter in Faerie had somehow made Charity and Murph bosom buddies. I was there too, but all I got was the booby prize of Charity not actively hating me.

It was an improvement on prior relations, though. “Everything okay here,” I asked. “Is Michael home now, or…?”

Charity nodded. “He’s gone to Father Forthill, to make sure they’re all okay.”

I nodded, casting around for something neutral to say. “Cool.”

Molly was all but vibrating in place. “Are we doing something?” she asked, eager as a puppy.

“Preventive medicine.” I looked her over, bare feet and sweats with holes on the knees. “Over on Respectable Street, so go get dressed in something that won’t get us thrown out.” In a flash, she was gone.

Charity just raised one elegant eyebrow at me, arms folded. “Putting temporary thresholds on hospitals,” I told her quickly in an attempt to forestall the inevitable cross-examination. “Gonna make sure the vamps don’t take advantage of an easy meal. This,” I waved my hand in the air to encompass all of Chicago. “This power thing can be dealt with by qualified electricians.” There was a clatter of booted feet on the stairs, and Molly reappeared wearing dark jeans and a simple navy button-down over a t-shirt. She’d even taken out most of the facial jewellery. My padawan was learning something, at least. “Can you tell Michael what we’re doing?”

Charity nodded curtly and turned to envelope her daughter in a bearhug. I shifted on my feet in discomfort and stepped away from the door as Murph ushered Molly onto the porch and said goodbye to Charity.

I studied our transportation. My car wasn’t that small, but to be honest neither was Mouse. I headed around to the passenger side. “Butters, give me some paper and a pen.” Taking the pad that he handed over, I sat on the curb and gestured for Molly to join me. “You remember these?” I asked her as I deftly drew the symbol. A handful of lines, done right, could hit a bad guy like a brick wall.

She nodded with confidence. “Yes. Protection symbol. Is that all?”

I took her hand and laid it over the sigil and let a gentle whisper of power flow through into the paper. She swallowed as I tore off the page and handed it to Murphy. “You try.”

She got it right first try. When it came to these subtler magics, Molly just had the knack. I handed her one of the pads, a couple of pens and one of the tape dispensers that Butters produced. “You and Murph head over and start with Cook Country General and move around the public hospitals.” Molly zipped her backpack shut and took the helmet Murphy gave her. “Me and the rest of the menfolk will start on the private clinics. Don’t miss any doors, service, emergency, wherever. There’s no such thing as overkill.”

Murphy rolled her eyes as she handed Molly the second helmet. “Regroup at your place? Say, four hours?”

Plan agreed, we hit the road.

~//~

A day is a long time when you’re running on a bowl of cereal. And it was only going to get worse.

Murph slammed shut a cabinet with a growl. “Cokes and puppy chow. Haven’t you heard of a mythical thing called groceries?”

I held up my hands in surrender. “I was going to do the shopping today!” I had hoped that the fairy cleaning service would have come in while I was gone, but no such luck. Though the last time they had stocked the larder, it was with one hundred packets of ramen. Then again, even ramen sounded edible right now.

Murphy helped herself to a coke, sucking half of it down in a single gulp. I made a gimme hand, and she pulled out several more bottles, handing me one as she passed. “What have we got?” she snapped as she dropped into the space left for her on the couch next to Molly.

Thomas was calmly smoothing the creases out of the maps with long, pale fingers. “What haven’t we got might be the better question. Until we know what we are dealing with, we’re blind rats in a maze. Anything from the ‘experts’?” Without so much as twitching, Thomas deftly made it clear his general opinion on their advice.

Couldn’t say I didn’t share it, though. I’d spent the day racing around the city. No-one seemed to have much of a clue at all, and as the hours passed, the sense of worry had tangibly increased. A major city had shut down, and the rest of the country hadn’t seemed to notice. No one had answers, and no-one was taking charge.

And it was still three hours til nightfall. “I know what I’m doing,” I announced to the world at large. “Napping.”

Molly rolled her eyes, but Murph was nodding. “Shifts,” she said.

“Yep,” I said, stretching out until my shoulders popped. “And since you two,” I told Thomas and Molly. “Seem to be bubbling over with youthful energy, you can take the first watch.” I picked up the blanket folded over the back of my sofa. “Murph, you can have my bed. Butters, I’ll get up one of the camp beds.” With Molly’s apprenticeship taking us all over the place, but especially to the middle of nowhere, I had accumulated a pretty impressive collection of camping gear for all seasons. I grabbed hold of the handle to the trapdoor and paused. “Molly, can you give me a hand down here.”

Molly preceded me downstairs, and I was ready for her reaction. “Holy…” she swallowed the curse, her eyes huge as she took in the now-cooled remains of Little Chicago. “Harry, what happened?”

I lit a row of candles. “Your guess is as good as mine. Here, take up the mattress.” We passed up the bedding, then Molly demonstrated why she was a good little apprentice by closing the trapdoor behind without letting slip that I had passed up the only camp bed down here.

Sleep would have to wait.

“Bob,” I snapped. “Wake up. We’ve got work to do.”

~//~

I woke up to Molly gently shaking my shoulder. “Harry? Harry, wake up.”

‘I’m up,’ I tried to tell her, but it came out more “Ngh Ngha.” I scowled at the taste in my mouth as I rolled my head to try and loosen the knots in my neck.

“Did you find anything?” Molly’s eyes were huge and shiny in the light of the guttering candles.

I shook my head. “Nothing.” I heard her sigh. “And that’s part of the problem. There should be something, but I’m getting radio silence in every direction.” And that was worrying me. But with the telephone exchanges down, there was no calling for backup. What I had was currently in my home. A cop, a geek, a vampire, a kid apprentice, a big dog, and a lot of empty stomachs.

Molly touched my arm, and I realized I had zoned out a bit. “What? Yeah, sorry…”

“Harry,” she said softly. “Dad’s upstairs. I think he might have news.”

I crawled up the stairs, feeling stiff from my nap at the workbench. “Michael,” I greeted him as he came forward to meet me.

“Harry.” Michael’s hands were rough and worn as he shook mine. “Charity said you were doing good works today.”

I made a face. “Only because Murph double-dog dared me to.”

At this, Michael cracked the ghost of a smile. “And heavens forbid you not take a dare.”

I studied his face. I had been Michael’s friend too long to miss what was written across his features. “What do you need?” Michael sighed, his eyes looking past me. Molly. “Michael….”

He squared his shoulders like he was facing punches. “This is bad, Harry. At least all of the United States is dark. I am going to be needed.” Unbidden, my eyes flickered towards the sword lurking inconspicuously in my umbrella rack. Down a knight, another thing all my fault.

“Hey,” I said, forcing my voice to stay light. “Knights of the Cross are always in hot demand. You’re like the little black dress of disasters, you never go out of fashion and you’re welcome anywhere.”

Molly sniggered, and for a moment Michael was just a father, hearing his little girl laugh. Then his face locked back down again, and I got it. Whenever he was needed before, he went knowing that his family were safe behind white picket fences. That would be no defense against the looters that would come out once food ran low, let alone the monsters that went bump in the night. And Michael knew that, just as he knew he could not turn away from his duty.

“Harry,” Michael said softly. “Help me. Please.”

Three words guaranteed to get me into trouble.

~//~

So that’s how I came to be breaking into the Nevernever with a cop, a geek, a vampire, my apprentice, a Knight of the Cross, his entire family, and a big dog.

Oh, and a wisecracking skull. Let’s not forget, Bob was coming on this family outing too.

“Really, Harry,” Bob was saying. “You could at least _try_ to have a little more finesse.”

“Bob, shut up or I’m leaving you for the hounds to find.” Carving a hole between here and the Nevernever was tricky enough. I’d never really had cause to do it before a live audience before, though.

It’s not just stage wizards that get performance anxiety. The way Murph was smirking wasn’t helping.

Gritting my teeth, I turned up the juice and not so much carved a path as tore the Nevernever a new one. “Now,” I grunted out. “Quickly.”

Charity was used to wrangling her kids, and with their father there, there was definitely no horsing around. Murphy went with them, dragging Butters along, and one by one they disappeared from Chicago until only Thomas and Mouse remained. “I…” Thomas scuffed the ground like an errant schoolboy. “I’d better stay here. Play lookout.” He didn’t need to mention the fact that if the White Council saw him, they’d shoot first and not bother with questions later. “Stay safe, Harry.”

I took his hand, a strangely formal gesture. “Likewise. Won’t be long.”

Mouse pawed the ground before the portal, and together, we stepped over. The portal closed behind us.

Bob had strict instructions to take the most family-friendly route, but in the Nevernever, everything was relative, including safety. For example, our passage through the Nevernever was safe relative to, say, sticking your head in the mouth of a hungry shark.

Our destination? The nearest White Council base, in southern Mexico. I figure of all the people who owed Michael a favour, they’d be the most likely to pay up when he came to collect.

I saw Murphy glance over her shoulder, before turning her gaze resolutely to the twisted path. She didn’t have to say it, we all knew we were in deep. My city was dark, and I had no idea why. I did know it was only a matter of time until the city became one giant all you could eat buffet. I could take one family to safety, but could make no promises for the rest.

And that was just Chicago. If Michael was right, if this was bigger than us, then we were screwed. My mind whirled with contingencies that relied on things we didn’t have, and outcomes I couldn’t accept.

“Harry,” Bob said softly from the net bag Molly had taken charge of. “We’re here.”

I nodded, gritted my teeth, and opened another portal.

We tumbled out onto pebbly ground, broken only by an intermittent, stubby bushes and a few scattered clumps of sand-brown grass. Without deliberate though, Murphy, Michael and I fanned out in a three-point defensive perimeter. I didn’t need to open my Sight to tell me that we were being watched. “Harry Dresden, Warden,” I declared to the empty air. I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “And you remember Michael, right? Knight of the Sword, bearer of Amoracchius, kicker of evil’s butt.” From Murph’s direction came something that sounded distinctly like a snicker.

I felt like an idiot taking to thin air, so it was actually almost a relief when there was a shimmer like a heat haze and two figures in Warden’s robes appeared from behind a damn good veil. “Warden Dresden,” the greeted me formally. “Welcome. Surrender all weapons and come with us.”

Well. That could have gone worse.

The next few hours were filled with the one thing the White Council excelled at – talking. McCoy and a lot of the other more senior wizards were spread out at other camps, but that just meant there were more middle management types to waste my time.

I was staring out at the setting sun when Murphy appeared at my side. “They’re scared,” she noted pragmatically.

“I have that effect on people.”

She hit me in the arm, hard. “Not of you, you damn egotist. No, of what’s happening. They don’t know any more than we do, and no-one’s telling them anything useful, and, well.” She smiled slyly up at me. “This big-shot wizard I know always gets cranky when he’s in the dark. I’m thinking it might be a general reaction to no news.”

There was a crunching of feet across gravel. I nodded a tired greeting to Michael as he came to stand next to Murphy. “The southern hemisphere doesn’t seem affected. Apparently, Australia, South America and Africa are untouched and are offering aid, but whether that’ll be enough….” He trailed off with a shrug.

“So,” I huffed out a sigh. “Just North America, Europe, and Asia then. No biggie.”

“What are we going to do?” Murphy asked.

I frowned down at her. “We, kimosabe?”

She shot me a sharp glance, hand on hip. “Don’t even start with that, Harry. I’m in, you know I’m in. End of story.”

I looked over at Michael and shrugged. “She’s in,” I told Michael.

The bastard was fighting a smile. “Secret of a happy life, Harry. Never argue with a woman.”

Murphy flicked both her hands out and up, slapping us both lightly in the stomach. “Now that’s settled, what next?”

The sun was sinking below the horizon. “Back to Chicago,” I said at last. “That’s my home, that’s my turf. I can’t save the whole world, but maybe I can start with that part of it. You sure you still want in, Murph?”

The dirty look she shot me could have knocked over a truck with its force. I held up my hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, just checking.” If it was anyone else, I would have pressed the case for them to stay behind, but I trusted Murphy to know her limits and strengths. Besides, where we were going was dark and cold. I was going to need a friend. “Michael, what about you?”

Michael’s eyes were closed in contemplation. I shifted awkwardly on the spot until he lifted his head with a small smile. “I believe I am to go with you,” he said simply.

I would never understand that kind of faith, but I knew it worked for Michael. “Okay.”

Leaving was harder than I though. I was expecting the fight from Molly about being left behind, and had prepared my strategies well.

The fight I wasn’t expecting came from Butters. “I’m going with you,” he repeated for the third time, defiant as a hamster. “Who knows what’s been happening, you’ll need a medic.”

“Butters!” I snapped back. For the fourth time now. “You can do more good here.” It didn’t take a genius to realize that refugees were soon going to be pouring across the border. I softened at the look of terrified determination on his face. “Besides, we’re going to be just a short hop through the Nevernever away.” Butters looked like he was going to press his case again, so I brought out the big guns. Leaning in conspiratorially, I glanced meaningfully at where Michael was on the ground in a middle of a pile of kids, all hugging out their farewells. “Butters, I need someone I can trust here. Someone to help Charity with the kids. Keep an eye on them, and whatever.” I nodded meaningfully and tried to ignore the wave of relief I saw in Butters’ face. “Can you do that for me?”

Butters nodded and I straightened up. “Thankyou,” I told him as sincerely as I could.

I turned to Molly as Michael slowly detached himself from his younger children. “That goes for you too, grasshopper. Remember everything I’ve taught you, and remember we’re still under the sword. Listen to what they say.”

Molly rolled her eyes but nodded. “I got it, Harry.”

I turned to watch as Michael hugged Charity goodbye. “Listen to what they say,” I repeated softly. “But look out for your family first. Family is important. Got it?”

Molly nodded again, a short little jerk of her chin. She had grown so much since the painted and pierced teen I had protected on the floor of that anonymous warehouse, but she still had so far to go.

Something told me she was going to grow up quick in the next few days. “Harry…” Molly kept her eyes on the ground as she searched for the right words. “You too.”

Murph was with Mouse, waiting for us at the spot where we came in. “Ready when you are,” she said, all business.

I reached for my power and opened the pathway home.

~//~

The streets were dark and wet as we tumbled out of the Nevernever and back into Chicago. Without streetlights, it took me a moment to get my bearings.

“This way,” Murphy said, beating me to it. She took point, and Michael and I fanned out behind her. Mouse drifted between us, making an uneven diamond as we moved quickly down rain-slicked streets towards the rendezvous.

The quiet was unnerving. It felt wrong, greasy around the edges. Preternatural.

The Beetle was where we had left her. She appeared undamaged – well, no more damaged than usual. I pulled open the trunk, pushing a whisper of power into my pentacle to see in the darkness. I dropped the mis-matched hood shut with a muffled clang. “Hasn’t been touched,” I told Murph, as I unlocked my special little box and tossed her a shotgun. “He hasn’t come back yet.”

Both Murphy and Michael had their backs to me, scanning the streets. “Think he’s okay?” she asked.

“I hope so.” Though what could delay a big, bad vampire like Thomas, I didn’t really want to think about. Because it would have to be something bigger and nastier. Before I could speculate further, I heard a rattle of an empty can being kicked against the gutter. I studied the shape coming towards us through the darkness. “Speak of the devil,” I muttered as Thomas nodded curt greetings.

“What took you guys so long,” he snapped. He sounded exhausted, strung-out and hungry.

“We came back right away,” Michael said calmly.

Thomas rolled his eyes, the whites flashing in the darkness. “Three days is straight-away?”

I could feel Murphy and Michael turn as one to look at me. I shrugged helplessly. “The NeverNever doesn’t really go in for linear time.”

Murphy sighed, and I hear her snap open her shotgun and snap it shut again. “Do we have a plan at all?”

“Father Forthill has set up a defensive line around St Mary’s,” Thomas told her.

I felt my fingers tighten around my staff. “Defense against what?”

Thomas’ eyes were bright, almost silver. “Everything,” he said simply.

Everything. Right.

I looked over my shoulder. Murphy had the shotgun resting easily on her shoulder, and was scanning the surroundings. As she turned her head, the pale skin of her throat flashed briefly and disappeared again as she turned to give me a short, professional nod of readiness. Michael had Amoracchius unsheathed, and the sword added another note of light to the darkness that surrounded us. Mouse’s doggie teeth gleamed in that light.

I squared my shoulders and hefted my staff. “Let’s go then.”

We fell into line easily as the darkness consumed us.


End file.
